Provost Steve Goldstein appoints Anita Hill as senior adviser

Provost Steve A.N. Goldstein today announced that Anita Hill, professor of Social Policy, Law and Women's Studies in the Heller School for Social Policy and Management, has joined his staff as senior adviser to the provost.

In her new role, Hill will lead and coordinate interdisciplinary academic initiatives across the university and play a central role in the strategic planning process that began this fall, Goldstein said in an email to faculty and staff.

In addition, she will work with the provost to develop partnerships with national and Boston-area institutions to advance the university’s missions and coordinate efforts with the Office of Communications to showcase Brandeis’s academic programs and faculty achievements, Goldstein said. She began her new duties this week.

A member of the Brandeis faculty since 1999, Hill will continue her teaching and research in the Heller School on a half-time basis.

“I am thrilled to have this opportunity to work with the provost on these priorities,” Hill said. “There is a lot of excitement at Brandeis now and the timing seems perfect.”

Hill first attracted national attention 20 years ago this month when she testified during hearings on the nomination of Clarence Thomas to the U.S. Supreme Court that Thomas repeatedly had made inappropriate sexual comments to her in the workplace. Her testimony before the Senate Judiciary Committee prompted a national debate over sexual harassment in the workplace. She wrote about the experience in her 1998 book, “Speaking Truth to Power.”

This week, she has a new book out, “Reimagining Equality: Stories of Gender, Race and Finding Home,” which explores the role of deeply-rooted race and gender prejudices in the housing crisis in America. 

“Reimagining Equality” is already receiving considerable national media attention, and Hill is scheduled for a national speaking tour. She will talk about her book on campus at an open-to-the-community Heller School event on Wednesday, Nov. 2.

Also this fall, Hill agreed to serve as counsel for the Washington, D.C., law firm Cohen, Milstein, Sellers and Toll, which specializes in civil rights and discrimination cases.